Ultrasonic endoscope system and electronic endoscope system

ABSTRACT

An ultrasonic endoscope system is provided with an endoscope processor for producing an endoscopic image from an image signal obtained through a CCD, and an ultrasonograph processor for producing an ultrasonographic image from an echo signal received on an ultrasonic transducer. The processors are connected to a peripheral equipment control unit through USB, and the peripheral equipment control unit is connected to peripheral equipments through USB. The peripheral equipment control unit consists of a CPU and three USB controllers for controlling the USB connections to the processors and the peripheral equipments individually. The peripheral equipment control unit operates as a host to the peripheral equipments, and as a device to the respective processors. The processors are connected to a filing device through Ethernet, and to a movie recorder through IEEE1394 bus.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic endoscope system thattakes endoscopic images and ultrasonographic images using an ultrasonicendoscope. The present invention also relates to an electronic endoscopesystem that takes endoscopic images using an electronic endoscope.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Diagnosis utilizing an endoscope has recently been put into practice inthe medical field. The endoscope has an imaging device, such as a CCD,at its end, for capturing an optical image of a certain part inside aliving body, to take an endoscopic image. Some endoscope is providedwith an ultrasonic transducer that projects ultrasonic waves toward acertain internal body part, and receives echo signals from the internalbody part, to take an ultrasonographic image, so that ultrasonicdiagnosis can be made simultaneously with endoscopic diagnosis. Amongthose endoscopes, one has a treatment tool introduction channel forintroducing an ultrasonic probe having an ultrasonic transducer at itsend, and another has an ultrasonic transducer disposed near an imagingdevice. The latter type is called an ultrasonic endoscope.

When the endoscope having the imaging device and the ultrasonictransducer is used for making endoscopic diagnosis and ultrasonicdiagnosis at the same time, a processor for endoscope and a processorfor ultrasonograph have been necessary for producing an endoscopic imagefrom the signal captured through the imaging device and for producing anultrasonographic image from the echo signal. These processors have to beoperated individually, and the endoscopic image and the ultrasonographicimage are displayed and observed on individual monitors. Accordingly,the conventional system is disadvantageous in view of installation spaceefficiency and operability.

In order to solve these problems, Japanese Laid-open Patent ApplicationNo. Hei 11-309148 suggests an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus thatdisplays an endoscopic image and an ultrasonic image as a compositeimage, called a picture-in-picture display, on a common monitor.Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2001-145627 suggests a medicalimage observer that has a common operational section for an endoscopeand an ultrasonic transducer.

Owing to the common monitor or the common operational section, theseprior arts are improved in the installation space efficiency and theoperability. But these prior arts do not fundamentally solve the aboveproblems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, a primary object of the present invention isto provide such an ultrasonic endoscope system and an electronicendoscope system, of which installation space is less restricted thanconventional, and which are remarkably improved in operability.

To solve the above and other objects, an ultrasonic endoscope system ofthe present invention comprises an ultrasonic endoscope having an endportion with an imaging device for capturing an optical image of acertain internal body part to output an image signal, and an ultrasonictransducer for emitting an ultrasonic wave toward the internal body partto receive an echo signal from the internal body part, an endoscopeprocessor for producing an endoscopic image from the image signal, anultrasonograph processor for producing an ultrasonographic image fromthe echo signal, and a plurality of peripheral equipments that exchangedata with the processors, wherein the processors are connected to theperipheral equipments through serial buses having bus arbitrationfunction.

Preferably, the ultrasonic endoscope system further comprises aperipheral equipment control unit that is connected to the processorsand the peripheral equipments through the serial buses. The peripheralequipment control unit serves as an intermediary of data between theprocessors, on one hand, and the peripheral equipments, on the otherhand.

The serial buses connecting the peripheral equipment control unit to theprocessors and the peripheral equipments are preferably universal serialbuses. The peripheral equipment control unit controls those of theuniversal serial buses which are connected respectively to theprocessors, independently from each other. The the peripheral equipmentcontrol unit comprises at least two USB controllers and a CPU forcontrolling operation of the USB controllers, and operates as a hostwhile exchanging data with the peripheral equipments, and as a devicewhile exchanging data with the processors.

According to a preferred embodiment, the peripheral equipments include amovie recorder for recording a selected one of the endoscopic image andthe ultrasonographic image as a movie image. The peripheral equipmentsinclude a first operational device for selecting one of the endoscopicimage and the ultrasonographic image, to be recorded by the movierecorder. The processors are preferably connected to the movie recorderthrough an IEEE1394 bus, wherein an output plug and an input plug of theIEEE1394 bus are established at a first one of the processors, a secondoutput plug of the IEEE1394 bus is established at a second one of theprocessors, and a second input plug of the IEEE1394 bus is establishedat the movie recorder, and wherein a first isochronous channel isestablished between the first processor and the movie recorder, and asecond isochronous channel is established between the first and secondprocessors.

According to another preferred embodiment, the ultrasonic endoscopesystem further comprises an image composing device for composing theendoscopic image and the ultrasonographic image to produce a compositeimage, and an image display device for displaying a selected one of theendoscopic image, the ultrasonographic image and the composite image.

An electronic endoscope system of the present invention comprises anelectronic endoscope having an end portion with an imaging device forcapturing an optical image of a certain internal body part to output animage signal, an endoscope processor for producing an endoscopic imagefrom the image signal, and a plurality of peripheral equipments thatexchange data with the processors wherein the endoscope processor isconnected to the peripheral equipments through serial buses having busarbitration function.

Preferably, a peripheral equipment control unit is connected to theendoscope processor and the peripheral equipments through the serialbuses. The peripheral equipment control unit serves as an intermediaryof data between the endoscope processor and the peripheral equipments,wherein the peripheral equipments preferably include at least a secondprocessor that produces from an electric signal an image served formedical diagnosis, such as an ultrasonographic image or an opticalcoherent tomographic image.

According to the present invention, the endoscope processor and theultrasonograph processor or other kinds of processors can share the sameperipheral equipments. Because the processors are connected to theperipheral equipments through the serial buses having bus arbitrationfunction, wiring is simplified in comparison with a conventional systemthat adopts RS232C-connection or PS/2-connection.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages will be more apparent fromthe following detailed description of the preferred embodiments whenread in connection with the accompanied drawings, wherein like referencenumerals designate like or corresponding parts throughout the severalviews, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an ultrasonic endoscope systemaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a peripheral equipment controlunit of the ultrasonic endoscope system;

FIG. 3 is a view showing frame format of connection between theperipheral equipment control unit and each of an endoscope processor, anultrasonograph processor and peripheral equipments through respectiveUSB;

FIG. 4 is a view showing frame format of connection between theprocessors and a movie recorder through an IEEE1394 bus;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of a keyboard of the ultrasonic endoscopesystem of the first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a sequence for printing data by aprinter;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a sequence for writing data on astorage medium through a driver;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart illustrating a sequence of processing responsiveto an operational signal entered through a keyboard or a footswitch;

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating a sequence for reading data out of amemory card through a card reader;

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating a sequence of processing responsiveto an image recording signal entered through an endoscopic imagerecording switch or an ultrasonographic image recording switch;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating an ultrasonic endoscope systemaccording to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of a keyboard of the ultrasonic endoscopesystem of the second embodiment;

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram illustrating various display modesselectable by operating a display mode switch or a display mode dial;and

FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic endoscope systemof the present invention

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In FIG. 1, an ultrasonic endoscope system 2 of the present inventionconsists of an ultrasonic endoscope 10 and an observation device 11. Theultrasonic endoscope 10 has a CCD 12 and an ultrasonic transducer 13incorporated therein, wherein the CCD 12 captures an optical image of acertain internal body part to output an image signal, and the ultrasonictransducer 13 emits ultrasonic waves toward the certain internal bodypart and receives an echo signal from the certain internal body part.

The observation device 11 is mainly constituted of an endoscopeprocessor 14, an ultrasonograph processor 15 and a peripheral equipmentcontrol unit 16. The endoscope processor 14 is connected to the CCD 12,to control driving the CCD 12, produce an endoscopic image from theimage signal entered by the CCD 12, and output digital data of theendoscopic image to a monitor for endoscopic image 17. The endoscopicimage monitor 17 is connected to the endoscope processor 14 through DVI(digital visual interface).

The ultrasonograph processor 15 is connected to the ultrasonictransducer 13, to control driving the ultrasonic transducer 13, producean ultrasonographic image from the echo signal entered by the ultrasonictransducer 13, and outputs digital data of the ultrasonographic image toa monitor for ultrasonographic image 18. The ultrasonographic imagemonitor 18 is connected to the ultrasonograph processor 15 through theDVI.

The peripheral equipment control unit 16 is connected to the respectiveprocessors 14 and 15 and peripheral equipments 19 through USB (universalserial bus) connections. The peripheral equipments 19 include a printer20 for printing out the endoscopic image or the ultrasonographic image,and a driver 21 for reading and writing data between the peripheralequipment control unit 16 and external storage media, such as floppydisc (trade name), MO, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM and flash memory. The peripheralequipments 19 further include a keyboard 22, a footswitch 23 and a cardreader 24 for reading data out of a memory card that stores personaldata of a patient, such as the name and the sex of the patient.

As shown in FIG. 2, the peripheral equipment control unit 16 consists ofa CPU 30 and first to third USB controllers 31, 32 and 33, which operateunder the control of the CPU 30. The first to third USB controllers 31to 33 are connected to the endoscope processor 14, the ultrasonographprocessor 15 and the peripheral equipments 19 respectively.Specifically, the third USB controller 33 has a switching hub function.

As shown conceptually in FIG. 3, the respective processors 14 and 15 andthe peripheral equipments 19 operate as hosts and devices to theperipheral equipment control unit 16. The peripheral equipment controlunit 16 operates as a host while exchanging data with the peripheralequipments 19 through a bus BUS1, and also operates as a device whileexchanging data with the respective processors 14 and 15 throughindividual buses BUS2 and BUS3. The CPU 30 switches the peripheralequipment control unit 16 between the host operation and the deviceoperation.

Referring back to FIG. 1, the respective processors 14 and 15 areconnected to a filing device 25 and a movie recorder 26. The filingdevice 25 is connected to the respective processors 14 and 15 throughEthernet (trade name) as show by dashed line in FIG. 1. The filingdevice 25 obtains the endoscopic image and the ultrasonographic imagefrom the respective processors 14 and 15 through the Ethernet, to recordthem as image files.

The movie recorder 26 is connected to the respective processors 14 and15 through IEEE1394 bus as shown by chain-dotted lines in FIG. 1. Themovie recorder 26 obtains the endoscopic image and the ultrasonographicimage from the respective processors 14 and 15 through the IEEE1394 bus,to record them digitally on a recording medium, like a recording tape.

As shown in FIG. 4, when the movie recorder 26 is connected to therespective processors 14 and 15 through the IEEE1394 bus, an output plugP (point to point out) and an input plug B (broadcast in) of theIEEE1394 bus are established at the ultrasonograph processor 15, whereasan output plug B (broadcast out) of the IEEE1394 bus is established atthe endoscope processor 14, and an input plug P (point to point in) ofthe IEEE1394 bus is established at the movie recorder 26.Simultaneously, a first isochronous channel X is established between theultrasonograph processor 15 and the movie recorder 26, whereas a secondisochronous channel Y is established between the endoscope processor 14and the ultrasonograph processor 15.

As shown in FIG. 5, the keyboard 22 is provided with an endoscopic imagerecording switch 40, an ultrasonographic image recording switch 41 and arecording priority selection switch 42. The endoscopic image recordingswitch 40 is operated to record the endoscopic image as a movie image bythe movie recorder 26, whereas the ultrasonographic image recordingswitch 41 is operated to record the ultrasonographic image as a movieimage by the movie recorder 26. The recording priority selection switch42 is operated to choose between an endoscope priority mode for givingpriority to the movie recording of the endoscopic image and anultrasonograph priority mode for giving priority to the movie recordingof the ultrasonographic image. In FIG. 5, OP and US stand for endoscopicimage and ultrasonographic image respectively, and the same applies toFIG. 12.

The endoscope processor 14 controls the movie recorder 26 such that themovie recorder 26 alternately starts and stops the movie recording ofthe endoscopic image upon the endoscopic image recording switch 40 beingoperated. The ultrasonograph processor 15 controls the movie recorder 26such that the movie recorder 26 alternately starts and stops the movierecording of the ultrasonographic image upon the ultrasonographic imagerecording switch 41 being operated. The respective processors 14 and 15also control the movie recorder 26 to record either the endoscopic imageor the ultrasonographic image, which is selected by the recordingpriority selection switch 42, prior to the recording as designated bythe endoscopic image recording switch 40 or the ultrasonographic imagerecording switch 41. Concretely, when a command for starting recording afirst one of the two kinds of images is entered by operating the imagerecording switch 40 or 41 while the movie recorder 26 is recording asecond one of the two kinds of images, and if at that time the firstkind image is selected by the recording priority selection switch 42,the movie recorder 26 interrupts recording the second kind image andstarts recording the first kind image. On the contrary, even when thecommand for starting recording the first kind image is entered, if thesecond kind image is selected by the recording priority selection switch42, the movie recorder 26 continues recording the second kind image anddoes not start recording the first kind image. Instead, a warning like“VTR BUSY” is displayed on the monitor 17 or 18 for the first kindimage.

When a command for obtaining an endoscopic image is entered while aninserting portion of the ultrasonic endoscope 10 is inserted in a livingbody, the CCD 12 captures an optical image of a certain part inside theliving body and outputs an image signal. The image signal from the CCD12 is fed to the endoscope processor 14.

The endoscope processor 14 subjects the image signal to many kinds ofimage-processing to produce the endoscopic image. The endoscopic imageproduced through the endoscope processor 14 is displayed on theendoscopic image monitor 17.

While the endoscopic image is being observed on the endoscopic imagemonitor 17, a particular internal body part is searched. When an end ofthe ultrasonic endoscope 10 reaches the particular internal body part,and a command for obtaining an ultrasonographic image is entered, theultrasonic transducer 13 emits the ultrasonic wave toward the particularbody part. Then the particular body part reflects the echo signal incorrespondence to the ultrasonic wave, so the ultrasonic transducer 13receives the echo signal. The echo signal received on the ultrasonictransducer 13 is fed to the ultrasonograph processor 15.

The ultrasonograph processor 15 subjects the echo signal to many kindsof image-processing to produce the ultrasonographic image. Theultrasonographic image produced through the ultrasonograph processor 15is displayed on the ultrasonographic image monitor 18.

Now the operation of the peripheral equipment control unit 16 will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.

As shown in FIG. 6, when the peripheral equipment control unit 16receives a print command for the printer 20 from the respectiveprocessors 14 and 15, the peripheral equipment control unit 16 operatesas a device to the respective processors 14 and 15, on receiving data toprint from the respective processors 14 and 15. Then, the peripheralequipment control unit 16 operates as a host to the printer 20, onsending the received data to the printer 20.

When the peripheral equipment control unit 16 receives a command forwriting data on a storage medium from the respective processors 14 and15, as shown in FIG. 7, the peripheral equipment control unit 16operates as a device to the respective processors 14 and 15, onreceiving the data to write. Then the peripheral equipment control unit16 operates as a host to the driver 21, on sending the received data tothe driver 21.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, the peripheral equipment controlunit 16 operates as a device to the keyboard 22 or the footswitch 23, onreceiving an operational signal from the keyboard 22 or the footswitch23. Then the peripheral equipment control unit 16 operates as a host tothe respective processors 14 and 15, on sending the received operationalsignal to the endoscope processor 14 or the ultrasonograph processor 15.In order to distinct the operational signal assigned to the endoscopeprocessor 14 from one assigned to the ultrasonograph processor 15, aspecific code is attached to the operational signal for the endoscopeprocessor 14, so that the peripheral equipment control unit 16 checksthe operational signal if the specific code is attached or not, todetermine which of the processors 14 and 15 the operational signalshould be sent to.

When the peripheral equipment control unit 16 reads data through thecard reader 24, as shown in FIG. 9, the peripheral equipment controlunit 16 operates as a host to the card reader 24. Then, on sending theread data to the respective processors 14 and 15, the peripheralequipment control unit 16 operates as a device to the respectiveprocessors 14 and 15.

As shown in FIG. 10, when an endoscopic image recording command isentered by operating the endoscopic image recording switch 40, isreceived on the endoscope processor 14 through the peripheral equipmentcontrol unit 16, the endoscope processor 14 checks the state ofoperation of the movie recorder 26. If the movie recorder 26 is alreadyrecording the endoscopic image, the endoscope processor 14 sends themovie recorder 26 a command for stopping recording the endoscopic image,so the movie recorder 26 stops the recording of the endoscopic image.

If the movie recorder 26 is not recording the endoscopic image nor theultrasonographic image, the endoscope processor 14 sends the movierecorder 26 a command for starting recording the endoscopic image, sothe movie recorder 26 stars recording the endoscopic image.

If, on the other hand, the movie recorder 26 is recording theultrasonographic image, and the endoscope priority mode is selected bythe recording priority selection switch 42, the endoscope processor 14sends the movie recorder 26 a command for stopping recording theultrasonographic image. After the recording of the ultrasonographicimage is stopped, the endoscope processor 14 sends the movie recorder 26the command for starting recording the endoscopic image, so the movierecorder 26, stars recording the endoscopic image.

If the endoscope priority mode is not selected by the recording priorityselection switch 42, a warning is displayed on the endoscopic imagemonitor 17. Note that the operation of the ultrasonograph processor 15responsive to an ultrasonographic image recording command, which isentered through the ultrasonographic image recording switch 41, is thesame as the above-described operation of the endoscope processor 14responsive to the endoscopic image recording command, if only “theendoscopic image” is replaced with “the ultrasonographic image”. So thedetailed description relating the ultrasonographic image recordingcommand is omitted.

As set forth above, the endoscope processor 14 and the ultrasonographprocessor 15 are connected to the peripheral equipments 19 via theperipheral equipment control unit 16 by the USB connection, whereas theprocessors 14 and 15 are connected to the filing device 25 and the movierecorder 26 through the Ethernet and the IEEE1394 bus respectively.Accordingly, the endoscope processor 14 and the ultrasonograph processor15 use the same peripheral equipments 19. Besides that, wiring betweenthe equipments and the devices is simplified in comparison with aconventional ultrasonic endoscope system that adopts RS232C-connectionor PS/2-connection.

Since it is possible to choose between the endoscope priority mode wherethe movie recording of the endoscopic image has priority, on one hand,and the ultrasonograph priority mode where the movie recording of theultrasonographic image has priority, the system operator can record theimage of the designated kind without fail.

As a variation, the peripheral equipment control unit 16 may be built inthe endoscope processor 14. It is also possible to integrate the firstor the second USB controller 31 or 32 with the third USB controller 33.

In the frame format of connection shown in the FIG. 4, the position ofthe endoscope processor 14 may be exchanged with the position of theultrasonograph processor 15. The plugs of the second isochronous channelY may be the point to point type.

Next, another embodiment of the present invention will be described withreference to FIGS. 11 to 14, wherein the same or like parts aredesignated by the same reference numerals, so the following descriptionwill relate to merely those parts essential to the second embodiment.

In FIG. 11, an ultrasonic endoscope system 50 is provided with anobserver 52 having a common monitor 51 that displays an endoscopicimage, an ultrasonic image or a composite image as set forth in detaillater. The common monitor 51 is connected to an ultrasonograph processor53. The ultrasonograph processor 53 is provided with an image composercircuit 54 for producing the composite image by composing the endoscopicimage, which is sent from an endoscope processor 14 through an IEEE1394bus, with the ultrasonographic image produced by the ultrasonographprocessor 53. The image composer 54 can change the ratio of anendoscopic image display area to an ultrasonographic image display areain the composite image on the screen of the common monitor 51. Forexample, as shown in FIG. 13, the ratio may change in three steps of4:1, 1:1 and 1:4.

As shown in FIG. 12, a keyboard 55 of the ultrasonic endoscope system 50has a display mode switch 60 and a display mode dial 61 in addition toimage recording switches 40 and 41 and a recording priority selectionswitch 42. The display mode dial 61 can work only while the display modeswitch 60 is turned on. Concretely, it becomes possible to turn thedisplay mode dial 61 when the display mode switch 60 is pressed down.

As shown in FIG. 13, as the display mode dial 61 is turned after thedisplay mode switch 60 is pressed down and thus turned on, the displaymode on the common monitor 51 changes. In FIG. 13, USI represents theultrasonographic image, and OPI represents the endoscopic image. Usingthe common monitor 51 for displaying the endoscopic image and theultrasonographic image makes the ultrasonic endoscope system 50 stillmore compact.

FIG. 14 shows an electronic endoscope system 70 of the presentinvention. The electronic endoscope system 70 consists of an electronicendoscope 71, an endoscope processor 73 that is connected to a CCD 72 ofthe electronic endoscope 71, and a peripheral equipment control unit 74that is integrated in the endoscope processor 73. The endoscopeprocessor 73 produces an endoscopic image from an image signal outputfrom the CCD 72.

The endoscope processor 73 is connected to a common monitor 75, a filingdevice 76 and a movie recorder 77 through the DVI connection, theEthernet and the IEEE1394 bus, respectively. The peripheral equipmentcontrol unit 74 is connected to peripheral equipments 83, including aprinter 78, a driver 79, a keyboard 80, a footswitch 81 and a cardreader 82, through USB connections.

The peripheral equipment control unit 74 is also connected to anultrasonograph processor 86 and an OCT (optical coherent tomography)processor 89 through the USB connections. The ultrasonograph processor86 is connected to an ultrasonic transducer 85 of an ultrasonic probe84, to produce an ultrasonographic image from an echo signal received onthe ultrasonic transducer 85. The OCT processor 89 is connected to anOCT element 88 of an OCT probe 87, to produce an optical coherenttomographic image. The ultrasonograph processor 86 and the OCT processor89 are connected to the filing device 76 through the Ethernet, and tothe movie recorder 77 through the IEEE1394 bus.

The configuration shown in FIG. 14 allows a plurality of medicalequipments to share the peripheral equipments 83. Furthermore, becauseonly the endoscope processor 73 has to be turned on for making theendoscopic diagnosis, this configuration contributes to reducingelectric power consumption. Note that the peripheral equipment controlunit 74 may be a separate body form the endoscope processor 73. It ispossible to provide the keyboard 80 with image recording switches, arecording priority selection switch, a display mode switch and a displaymode dial, like the embodiment shown in FIG. 12, to get the same effectsas above.

The connection between the processors and the monitors or the commonmonitor is not limited to the DVI, but the analog RGB format is usable.Also S-VIDEO format or VIDEO format may also be usable, though the imagequality is inferior to the DVI and the analog RGB format.

Although the above embodiments use wired serial buses, like the USB, theEthernet and the IEEE1394 bus, it is possible to use radio serial buses,such as Bluetooth, IEEE801.11a/b/g.

Thus the present invention is not to be limited to the above-describedembodiments, but various modifications will be possible withoutdeparting from the scope of claims as appended hereto.

1. An ultrasonic endoscope system comprising: an ultrasonic endoscopehaving an end portion with an imaging device and an ultrasonictransducer, said imaging device capturing an optical image of a certaininternal body part to output an image signal, and said ultrasonictransducer emitting an ultrasonic wave toward said internal body part toreceive an echo signal from said internal body part; an endoscopeprocessor for producing an endoscopic image from said image signal; anultrasonograph processor for producing an ultrasonographic image fromsaid echo signal; and a plurality of peripheral equipments that exchangedata with said processors, wherein said processors are connected to saidperipheral equipments through serial buses having bus arbitrationfunction.
 2. An ultrasonic endoscope system as claimed in claim 1,further comprising a peripheral equipment control unit that is connectedto said processors and said peripheral equipments, to serve as anintermediary of data between said processors, on one hand, and saidperipheral equipments, on the other hand.
 3. An ultrasonic endoscopesystem as claimed in claim 2, wherein said peripheral equipment controlunit is connected to said processors and said peripheral equipmentsthrough universal serial buses.
 4. An ultrasonic endoscope system asclaimed in claim 3, wherein said peripheral equipment control unitcontrols those of said universal serial buses which are connectedrespectively to said processors, independently from each other.
 5. Anultrasonic endoscope system as claimed in claim 4, wherein saidperipheral equipment control unit comprises at least two USB controllersand a CPU for controlling operation of said USB controllers, andoperates as a host while exchanging data with said peripheralequipments, and as a device while exchanging data with said processors.6. An ultrasonic endoscope system as claimed in claim 2, wherein saidperipheral equipment control unit is incorporated into said endoscopeprocessor.
 7. An ultrasonic endoscope system as claimed in claim 1,wherein said peripheral equipments include a movie recorder forrecording a selected one of the endoscopic image and theultrasonographic image as a movie image.
 8. An ultrasonic endoscopesystem as claimed in claim 7, wherein said peripheral equipments includea first operational device for selecting one of the endoscopic image andthe ultrasonographic image, to be recorded by said movie recorder.
 9. Anultrasonic endoscope system as claimed in claim 8, wherein saidperipheral equipments include a second operational device for selectingbetween an endoscope priority mode for giving priority to the movierecording of the endoscopic image and an ultrasonograph priority modefor giving priority to the movie recording of the ultrasonographicimage, and wherein said processors control said movie recorder to recordthe endoscopic image or the ultrasonographic image in accordance withthe selection done by said second operational device, prior to theselection done by said first operational device.
 10. An ultrasonicendoscope system as claimed in claim 7, wherein one of said serial buseswhich connects said processors to said movie-recorder is an IEEE1394bus.
 11. An ultrasonic endoscope system as claimed in claim 10, whereinan output plug and an input plug of said IEEE1394 bus are established ata first one of said processors, a second output plug of said IEEE1394bus is established at a second one of said processors, and a secondinput plug of said IEEE1394 bus is established at said movie recorder,and wherein a first isochronous channel is established between saidfirst processor and said movie recorder, and a second isochronouschannel is established between said first and second processors.
 12. Anultrasonic endoscope system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising animage composing device for composing the endoscopic image and theultrasonographic image to produce a composite image; and an imagedisplay device for displaying a selected one of the endoscopic image,the ultrasonographic image and the composite image.
 13. An ultrasonicendoscope system as claimed in claim 12, wherein said peripheralequipments include a third operational device for selecting one of theendoscopic image, the ultrasonographic image and the composite image, tobe displayed on said image display device.
 14. An ultrasonic endoscopesystem as claimed in claim 12, wherein said image composing device canchange the ratio of an endoscopic image display area to anultrasonographic image display area in the composite image on said imagedisplay device.
 15. An ultrasonic endoscope system as claimed in claim14, wherein said peripheral equipments include a fourth operationaldevice for causing said image composing device to change the ratio of anendoscopic image display area to an ultrasonographic image display areain the composite image.
 16. An ultrasonic endoscope system as claimed inclaim 1, wherein at least one of said serial buses is a radio serialbus.
 17. An electronic endoscope system comprising: an electronicendoscope having an end portion with an imaging device for capturing anoptical image of a certain internal body part to output an image signal;an endoscope processor for producing an endoscopic image from said imagesignal; and a plurality of peripheral equipments that exchange data withsaid processors, wherein said endoscope processor is connected to saidperipheral equipments through serial buses having bus arbitrationfunction.
 18. An electronic endoscope system as claimed in claim 17,further comprising a peripheral equipment control unit connected to saidendoscope processor and said peripheral equipments, to serve as anintermediary of data between said endoscope processor and saidperipheral equipments.
 19. An electronic endoscope system as claimed inclaim 18, wherein said peripheral equipment control unit is connected tosaid endoscope processor and said peripheral equipments throughuniversal serial buses.
 20. An electronic endoscope system as claimed inclaim 18, wherein said peripheral equipment control unit is incorporatedinto said endoscope processor.
 21. An electronic endoscope system asclaimed in claim 17, wherein said peripheral equipments include a movierecorder for recording the endoscopic image as a movie image.
 22. Anelectronic endoscope system as claimed in claim 21, wherein one of saidserial buses which connects said endoscope processor to said movierecorder is an IEEE1394 bus.
 23. An electronic endoscope system asclaimed in claim 17, wherein said peripheral equipments include at leasta second processor that produces from an electric signal an image servedfor medical diagnosis.
 24. An electronic endoscope system as claimed inclaim 23, wherein said second processor is connected to said movierecorder through a serial bus.
 25. An electronic endoscope system asclaimed in claim 17, wherein at least one of said serial buses is aradio serial bus.
 26. An electronic endoscope system as claimed in claim23, wherein said second processor includes an ultrasonograph processorfor producing an ultrasonographic image from an echo signal.
 27. Anelectronic endoscope system as claimed in claim 23, wherein said secondprocessor includes an optical coherent tomography processor forproducing an optical coherent tomographic image.